BAN ON AAJA NACHLE!??! is this fair?!

My word, what a fuss!

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There has been a lot of halla over the lyrics of a song of Aaja Nachle. So what's wrong with the line '…mochi bhi bole khudko sonar hai'? Lyricists air their opinion Back to Section Stories Posted On Sunday, December 02, 2007

Ashwini Deshmukh and Kavita Shyam The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday decided to lift the ban it had imposed on Aaja Nachle following an apology by filmmaker Yash Chopra. In a statement, Yash Raj Films said: "It was not our intention to hurt the feelings of any individual or community of our great nation. If we have inadvertently hurt the sentiments of anybody we apologise. We have taken immediate remedial action by deleting the lines from prints of Aaja Nachle all over the country." The filmmakers deleted a line in a song that had resulted in the film being banned in UP and Punjab. Writer Piyush Mishra and director Anil Mehta deleted the offending lines from the title track- '…mochi bhi bole khudko sonar hai.' The issue also came up in Parliament as some MPs called for a nationwide ban on the film. The Punjab government too had also imposed a ban on the film. Mayawati had imposed a ban on the film's audio and video CDs and had also written to the Prime Minister asking for a nationwide ban on the film. However, the Centre had ruled out a nationwide ban after the producers agreed to withdraw the 'offending' parts. Dalit activists had protested against the movie in New Delhi and said the lyrics had not only humiliated the community but were also unconstitutional. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have a large number of Dalits and they form a sizeable vote bank. SAMEER I don't think all the controversy over the line is justified at all. Even I had faced a similar problem for a song 'Kahan raja bhoj, kahan gangu Teli' while writing lyrics for the film, Dulhe Raja. I was sent a notice by the Teli samaj saying that I had insulted them. That proverb was 200 years old but when it was incorporated in a film song, questions were raised. I feel once the Censor Board passes the film, no other person should point fingers at anyone regarding the content of a film. This is a new trend of creating controversy to gain cheap publicity. We anyway have major hassles while writing songs. We have to be very thoughtful before using any word. So additional public pressure only hinders our creativity. SWANAND KIRKIRE I don't think this entire controversy has any logic to it. It's only a film which is meant to entertain the audiences. So why so much fuss? An entire film is suffering because of one line - or rather, because of opposition to one line. I am sure Yashraj didn't deliberately include the lines to hurt anybody's sentiments. However, I do think that Yashraj did the right thing as the film doesn't depend on that one line nor is it an important statement on which the essence of the film depends. JALEES SHERWANI The so-called 'offending' line is just an expression. I find nothing wrong in it. I'm sure it wasn't intended to harm anyone. The cobblers have taken the line literally, which they shouldn't have. These are lyrics, an art. Writers are simply doing their job, they have nothing personal against anyone or any community. Yash Chopra is a senior person and probably didn't want to get into any controversy, so he must have found it simpler to cut out the line to avoid trouble. PRASOON JOSHI I haven't heard the song but I'm sure there is some misunderstanding. However, until I hear the song and figure out exactly the context in which they're used, I don't really want to comment on the issue. However, I know that the Yashraj banner is extremely responsible and has years of credibility on its side. All I can say is that all of us lyricists usually follow the unsaid code that we shouldn't hurt anyone's sentiments through our words.

Question: was this movie actually doing well before the ban appeared?

Originally posted by: Morgoth

Question: was this movie actually doing well before the ban appeared?

Apparently it was not, atleast with whatever is in the print (https://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/13946/Despite-hype-bo x-office-cold-Aaja-Nachle.html) .

Seems like another publicity stunt. Well, the music was out for a while, why is it a problem suddenly. As far as right or wrong, won't be fair to judge, if some sections of prime states have been hurt so much that the CM's/leaders had to take last resort of banning the movie then definately something wrong. Orelse why will the unit apologize and rip off the segment. At the end all is good though but heard that Madhuri was so hurt that she took flight back to US. Question is whether she will be able to make her long awaited comeback?

this can only happen in india.. based on this we should have a slogan.

India - A land of absurdities.

Originally posted by: qwertyesque

this can only happen in india.. based on this we should have a slogan.

India - A land of absurdities.

Why only India? Controversy seeker based on class/gender/caste/religion/etc/etc/etc duniya key koney koney feley hue hai.

I personally feel the ban was partially justified😳 My reason for justifying this ban is that the government for once sided with the minorites and stood up for their rights unlike some other countries where the minorities are just walked over😡 Although I do agree this whole ficaso was blown wayyyyyyyyyyyy over the top The only thing wrong with this ban is it should have been put in place WHEN the music as actually released instead of waiting the movie to be realeased

Well that's just my personal opinion😳 I am sure there are many other views😊

Originally posted by: raj5000

Why only India? Controversy seeker based on class/gender/caste/religion/etc/etc/etc duniya key koney koney feley hue hai.

hum toh bhaiyya controversy key sartaj hai..😊

1) The ban has been lifted in most places after Yash Raj films deleted the controversial line from the song.

2) The protestors claim that Mochi and Sunar apart from being two different professions, also happen to be two different castes. The Mochi caste being traditionally considered the "Lower" caste. They consider the song as demeaning to the lower "Mochi" caste trying to suggest that they can never match up to their High Caste counterparts. They call the song a "Pun" intending to insult lower castes.

The Censor board or the film makers clearly never saw this angle to the lyrics.

Pardon my ignorance, but could someone please translate the line 😳
For the most part, the timing of the bans and the reasoning seem disproportionate and out of place.
But then, there have always been severe fundemental flaws with the Censor board. That this "escaped" their notice is no surprise. Neither is the attention garnering tactic others have used this as.

just another incident where the entire society failed to show some maturity.. petty is how petty acts 🤢

glad to hear that the ban was raised.. yet ... what's the point? on one hand, we are in a super rush to become the next super-power 😉 and on the other, we are acting like a bunch of greedy manipulative monkeys who should sit in trees.. 😕 .. and wait till we become humans.